NT Live: King Lear

June 17 - 29, 2014

Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty, Away We Go) directs this National Theatre production of Shakespeare's tragedy, updated to a modern totalitarian state setting. Legendary stage actor Simon Russell Beale stars in a performance that the Evening Standard raves, "Never ceases to astonish."

"A literally awe-inspiring production, dominated by Anthony Ward’s Soviet-style designs and a huge ensemble of black-clad soldiers whose presence permeates every scene with masculine menace. But its scale also allows all the play’s numerous relationships room to breathe; it is gloomy, but it is very human. This is maximum ‘Lear’, and if it’s not faultless, it is awesome." - Time Out London | Full Review

"Simon Russell Beale is one of our greatest actors. And here as Shakespeare's frail and angry monarch, broken by his own capricious nature, he is the best I have ever seen him. There is perhaps no actor better at conveying the shapes and sounds of grief. " - Evening Standard |Full Review

"Unforgettable set pieces, radical readings of Shakespeare's text and a riveting central performance make this a production to treasure." - Daily Express | Full Review

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